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Results
The other two cases, Bureau and Chain, indicated somewhat less
challenging contexts. Still, each of these cases involved particular contextrelated
challenges. Bureau’s program was less complex than the other two,
but the parent organization’s maturity was fairly low in terms of
implementing large-scale change programs. Chain’s program was highly
complex, but the maturity of the parent organization in terms of change
programs was the highest among the studied cases.
Cases Bureau and Chain also differed in terms of the key program
managers and the origin of the programs. Bureau’s program was started at
the middle management level, and program initiation was guided by two
strong managers who were able to sell the program idea first to the top
management and then to the rest of the organization. However, these two
skilled and charismatic managers left the program organization after initial
planning and they were not replaced by similarly active leaders, which
caused a discontinuity in the program’s progress, as some projects were
unable to proceed without close management support. Chain’s program, in
turn, was initiated by the top managers of the line organization who
appointed a program coordinator and a steering group to oversee program
planning. Although Chain’s program was from the beginning fairly closely
led by the organization’s top management, the managerial grip on the
program tightened as the original program owner was replaced with a more
active owner and when the program coordinator was formally appointed
program manager.
To conclude the discussion on the empirical findings, a final observation
concerns the relations between the different aspects of the change
program’s context. The contextual factors discussed in this section seem
related in many ways. A more mature organization in terms of program
management is more likely to have skilled program managers for running
the programs. To give another example, the more extensive and complex
the program is, the more likely it is to require presence, mandate, and
decisions from the top management of the organization, indicating the need
for highly authorized program managers and active top management
involvement during program initiation. Further analysis of the
relationships between the identified contextual factors is, however, out of
the scope of this dissertation.
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